On July 4, 1776 56 people signed their death warrants on the Declaration of Independence.
I'm insufferably proud that of the seven signatories from Virginia, four are my second cousins:
Richard Henry Lee
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Thomas Jefferson (also a signatory from Virginia) is another (very distant, 11th) cousin. You may have heard of him.
Oddly George Washington, also from Virginia (my distant, 8th cousin) did not sign the Declaration of Independence.
He was off running the army or something.
Fun Fact: the guy with the big flashy signature is another (distant, 10th) cousin:
